While trumpeting Virginia’s basketball team Wednesday night, Boston College coach Steve Donahue mentioned Malcolm Brogdon first. As well he should have. As have many others.

A redshirt sophomore guard, Brogdon is among the ACC’s best players, a revelation after missing last season with a foot injury. He had just contributed 17 points and career-highs of 11 rebounds and seven assists to a Cavaliers victory over Donahue’s Eagles.

But Donahue quickly transitioned from Brogdon to Virginia’s most established presence.

“What I admire is that Joe Harris, who is a terrific player, is willing to take the back seat at times,” he said. “That makes him dangerous. In this day [and age], players worry so much about stats, but it doesn’t seem like this team worries about how it gets done. They are talented and willing to do whatever it takes.”

Indeed, an individual and collective selflessness have served the 20th-ranked Cavaliers well. They are 18-5, 9-1 in the ACC and have won six straight entering Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech (12-11, 3-7).

But before anointing Harris a basketball Mother Teresa, understand that he’s never been an ego-driven, volume shooter, and that the frequency of his attempts hasn’t dramatically declined. Also realize that his numbers this season as a senior are virtually identical to those he posted in 2012, when Virginia reached the NCAA tournament for the only time in the last half-dozen years.

Most important: Harris is more than smart enough to realize and appreciate that a lighter load now will leave him better conditioned for postseason. That’s critical for a player and team that faded late in each of the last two years.

“Joe’s a unique study,” said Ritchie McKay, Virginia’s associate head coach. “He’s just an unbelievably compliant kid and a great teammate.”

A 6-foot-6 guard. Harris was the ACC’s No. 4 scorer last season at 16.3 points per game and a unanimous first-team selection to the coaches’ all-conference team. He was Virginia’s top scorer in 19 of 35 games, including seven in a row, and averaged 32.5 minutes.

Talent also dictated a primary role for Harris at Chelan (Wash.) High School, where he set state scoring records. But he often prefers a secondary role, and McKay recalls him being so deferential to fellow Division I prospects on his summer travel team that programs such as Gonzaga and Washington hesitated to recruit him.

Brogdon’s emergence has afforded Harris, his minutes trimmed to 26.7 per game, some time back in the shadows. He is not among the league’s top-20 scorers — he’s averaging 11.3 points, second on the team to Brogdon’s 12.0 – and he gladly ceded on Virginia’s final possession Sunday at Pittsburgh as Brogdon hit a decisive 3-pointer with less than one second remaining.

“You would have thought he had just made it,” McKay said of Harris’ reaction.

But don’t think for a moment that designing a late set for Brogdon translates to losing faith in Harris. Quite the contrary. It’s just that opponents shade toward Harris, leaving the confident Brogdon as a viable alternative.

Remember Virginia’s final-minute possession last month at Duke, after a Rasheed Sulaimon 3-pointer had put the Blue Devils ahead? The Cavaliers ran a play for Harris to spot up in the left corner, but Amile Jefferson deflected Akil Mitchell’s pass.

“A coach’s dream,” Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski called Harris that evening.

Harris’ shot rate has dropped from one for every 2.79 minutes of playing time last season to one per 3.29 minutes, hardly glaring. His free-throw accuracy has dipped considerably, from 73 percent to 63.9, but his field goal percentage is up slightly, from 46.8 to 47.1.

In 2012, when power forward Mike Scott was the team’s primary scorer, Harris averaged 11.3 points and attempted one shot for every 3.54 minutes. But in both seasons, the roster depleted by injuries, Virginia and Harris staggered to the finish.

After scoring a career-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting in a Feb. 28 victory over Duke, Harris averaged 12.1 points and shot 32.9 percent over last season’s final seven games. The Cavaliers lost four.

Similarly, Harris shot 32.4 percent and averaged 7.9 points over the final nine games of 2012. Virginia lost six.

With a team whose bench scored 39 points Wednesday, and a with a team that’s produced six different leading scorers — Brogdon, Harris, Justin Anderson, Mike Tobey, Anthony Gill and London Perrantes — Harris need not be The Man every night.

Limited by foul trouble Wednesday, he scored nine points, and his highs this season are modest: 20 points, versus Hampton, and 12 shots, on three occasions. He scored more than 20 seven times last season, including five in a row, and hoisted more than 12 shots in 15 contests.

But make no mistake, if Virginia is to advance in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2007, if the Cavaliers are to reach a regional semifinal for the first time since 1995, Harris will need to be at his best and, possibly, need to be dominant.

Better yet for Virginia: This year he should be poised to deliver. He’s rested, and besides, he’s a senior. This is his last chance.

“He’ll be a little less compliant,” McKay said with a chuckle, “as the season goes on.”

I can be reached at 247-4636 or by e-mail at dteel@dailypress.com. Follow me at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP

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